June 25, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The executive suite shuffle continues in the pharmaceutical industry as Gregory D. Perry is the latest executive to jump ship to a rival pharmaceutical company. Perry will leave his post as chief financial officer of Eleven Biotherapeutics to assume the same role at rival Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , effective July 6.
Perry will replace David Aubuchon, as interim CFO at Aegerion, the company announced this morning. Aubuchon will resume his role as chief accounting officer.
Marc Beer, chief executive officer of Aegerion, touted Perry’s financial understanding and “global biotech operational expertise.”
“We look forward to his contributions as a member of the executive leadership team as we work on our strategic initiatives and continue to focus on our goals,” Beer said in a statement.
Perry’ last day at Eleven will be July 3, that company announced this morning. He will be replaced at Eleven Biotherapeutics by John J. McCabe, vice president of finance and business operations. His title will be principal financial officer and principal accounting officer, the company said.
Abbie Celniker, president and chief executive officer of Eleven, said Perry was an integral part of the company since before its initial public offering.
Eleven’s stock was up slightly this morning, trading at $2.84 per share from a morning low of $2.75. On the other hand, Aegerions’s stock was slightly lower this morning, trading at $18.35 per share, down from the opening price of $18.45 per share.
Perry’s shift is the latest in a number of executives jumping to helm rival companies. London-based AstraZeneca PLC has lost two top executives within the last two weeks to offers from other pharmaceutical companies. James Ward-Lilley, the head of respiratory and inflammatory medicines, departed the company to become chief executive officer of lung drug specialist Vectura Group PLC. Last week privately-held Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc. tapped Briggs W. Morrison, the former head of global late-stage drug development at AstraZeneca, as its new chief executive officer. While he was at AstraZeneca, Morrison played a crucial role in fighting off a $118 billion takeover bid by Pfizer Inc. in 2014. Morrison played a role in boosting AstraZeneca’s research and development efforts by nearly $1 billion in 2014 to $5.6 billion, a jump from its $4.8 billion budget in 2013.
In addition to the two AstraZeneca executives, Andrew Allen, the chief medical officer at Clovis Oncology announced he was leaving the company in August to launch his own immuno-oncology company. During his last month with Clovis, Allen will oversee a New Drug Application and marketing authorizations for rociletinib, an inhibitor of the cancer-causing mutant forms of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) currently being studied for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Before coming his time with Eleven Biotherapeutics, Perry served as the interim chief financial officer of InVivo Therapeutics Corporation , chief financial officer of ImmunoGen, Inc. and before that he served as chief financial officer of Elixir Pharmaceuticals.
Aegerion’s former CFO Mark Fitzpatrick abruptly let the company in May to move to take over the top financial role at rival pharmaceutical company Chiasma Inc.. A company spokesperson quelled rumors that Fitzpatrick left the company due to infighting with other executives. Amanda Murphy, associate director of investor relations and public relations, told BioSpace that Fitzpatrick moved to a company “more aligned with his experience at a pre-commercial, development stage company.”
His departure came on the heels of rumors that Aegerion’s top 10 investors wanted to move against Beer and replace him with a new chief executive.
As Rumors Swirl About GlaxoSmithKline Bid, Who Could Suitors Be?
Rumors are swirling that Swiss-based Roche and U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson are eying the U.K. company for approximately $143 billion. But Roche and J&J aren’t the only companies though who have been thought could go after the elephant that is Glaxo.
Last month there was buzz that Pfizer Inc. was considering acquiring Glaxo, a year after it failed to acquire AstraZeneca PLC . Just this month over a third of respondents in a poll conducted by BioSpace believe that AstraZeneca PLC could be in the running to acquire struggling GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
So BioSpace wants to ask our readers again what they predict for this new dealmaking bonanza. Will Glaxo go—and if so, to whom?
